A jury has started to hear testimony that will allow them to determine what was in Trevor Shannon’s mind five years ago, when he allegedly pulled out a handgun and fatally shot a Kelowna teen.
At the start of Shannon’s second degree murder trial Tuesday, Crown Counsel Duncan Campbell told the jury of five men and seven women that the accused’s mindset that fateful night is “what this case is about.”
According to an agreed upon statement of facts read to the court Evan Wilkes, 18, was shot in the head April 12, 2007 at 12:54 a.m., during a house party on Vimy Avenue.
The gunshot came from a semi-automatic handgun belonging to Shannon—although not licenced to him— and not long after it was fired, he buried it in front of a dock on Okanagan Lake. It wasn’t found until several days later.
The merits of other details offered by future witnesses about the night’s events and aftermath, however, will have to be scrutinized by jurors.
And there will be plenty for them to sift through in the days ahead.
Crown counsel is bringing forward 13 witnesses to recall the details of a night that’s already shaping up, through photo-evidence, to be a chaotic mess.
A mix of forensic experts, police officers and the young friends of both Wilkes and Shannon are scheduled to testify throughout the next couple of weeks.
In an attempt to give the jurors a roadmap to their testimony, Campbell outlined his interpretation of the events that night.
By his estimates, Shannon arrived at the Vimy Avenue party with several others some time after 8 p.m., which was well after the party had started.
Several hours later, one of Shannon’s friends got into a disagreement with one of Wilkes’s friends, and the latter pulled out knives.
Shannon then intervened and pulled out his gun as a means to defuse the situation, said Campbell.
It worked, he said, but it also meant Shannon’s friends were no longer welcome to stay.
Party-goers flooded into the driveway in front of the house as the young men left, said Campbell. At that point, Wilkes and Shannon got into a confrontation, and the teenager was fatally wounded.
Witness testimony will continue over the next two weeks.
Shannon is now 27.
